To maintain the warranty on white vinyl roofs they need to be maintained. They all collect dirt, mildew, suite and various other types of debris. They need patching occasionally and washing also. An important aspect for cleaning them is to avoid using a harsh chemical that would potentially etch or modify the composition or the surface. The correct process is to use a detergent that won’t harm the surface and wash the surface so as not to damage it. On this commercial vinyl roof in Minnetonka, MN we used a gentle, environmetally friendly detergent, scrubbed it gently then washed it with a Hot Water Washer. A big advantage to acheieving a cleaner roof is Hot water. Hot water cleans everything better so the owner of the building got a better job in the same amount of time and at the same price than had a company used cold water.

Call Complete Custom Painting for Commercial Building Painting and Washing

When you need the exterior of your Hardie Plank house painted, your deck stained, your front door re-finished and a few interior walls painted, No need to call multiple vendors. An experienced painting company should be able to manage and handle it all. At this house in the Woodbury/ Lake Elmo area that started out as an exterior painting job, we primed and painted the exterior hard board siding, stained the homeowners deck, painted several interior walls and applied a couple coats of spar varnish to the bead board ceiling. Additionally, the homeowners siding was coming loose in seveal areas. We took the time to point it out and screw down the boards on the studs. We used stainless stell screws to avoid future rust bleed.

Wood doors that face the sun are improperly cared for in large part. My advice has always been to treat them like a wood boat. One or two coats of Spar Varnish every other year (or sometimes every year will protect it. If you wait too long the door will need to be fully re-finished. In the event you don’t want to have the door fully stripped and sanded then sometimes (rarely) the door can be blended. This will not achieve a perfect look but costs less than fully stripping the door. Here is a door that we re-finished in Woodubry where we fully stripped all the raised panels and then sanded and applied a glaze to the interior routed edges. Then we top coated with 4 coats of spar urethane. It cost less than fully stripping it and probably less than a 1/4 of replacing it. It looks great

Exterior paint will fade in the sun. In order to keep it from fading quickly, you need to do the following: Always remove any debris, chalking or efflorescence. This can be done by detergent washing the house with the correct cleaner. Always use the correct primer. On concrete composite hard board, you need to use concrete specific primer. Finally fully back roll/back-brush the top coat and use a satin sheen. An experienced painter should be able to get the 2nd coat of paint to level out (even with higher sheens)

It is important to sample the removal of wallpaper for any jobs that involve it prior to submitting a price to a customer.

Depending on the time it was installed, brand that was used, surface it was put over etc, wallpaper will pull off more easily or difficult. This is consistent with 54 inch vinyl paper (commercial wall covering) or with the stuff you see in homes (wallpaper). We did a job about 4 or 5 years back that required a lot of wallpaper removal and commercial painting and I had a wall paper installer with over 30 years experience look it over and he would not commit to a price for rem,oval without doing a lot of removing (sampling) all over the job. When you do the sample, you shouldn’t pull a small piece on a corner you should do the same process that you plan to do if awarded the job on an entire section to be sure of the effort it will take for the removal. This is the fairest way to submit a bid to your customer and be confident it has value (both for you and the customer).

In this picture I sampled 4 areas for a large home on the Mississippi River in Coon Rapids and found that 3 out of the 4 areas pulled easily with relatively no scoring or fabric softener application (that’s what we use instead of the harsh chemicals that are over priced), but one of the areas required a lot of scoring, a much longer dwell time for the water and revealed that a little more attention will need to be showed to the wall after the wallpaper is removed. After seeing how the different wall paper pulled in the different areas, I can plan for a full skim coat in the one area and plan for a light sanding in the other 3 areas. Now, my bid will have accuracy, the customer will get a perfect job at the correct price.

Here is job we enameled for a cabinet maker. The homeowner of these new cabinets was adamant she wanted a non-oil product because of concerns about the environment, vocs, etc etc. After we showed them some samples, the homeowner really wanted the look of oil (which has a different luster than water-based products) however. There are several products that spray nicely and “lay down” beautifully that are called Alkyd Hybrids. They achieve the look of oil but have much lower voc’s than oil. They also, seal wood surfaces better than a water-based product.

The sun, excessive moisture and cold weather are harsh on exterior surfaces. One clear instance of this is when you see a dark color begin to fade, oxidize, chalk or show lines. This happens because deeper base colors have more colorant in it and the colorant in paint tends to be less resistant to paint fading than the other ingredients in the typical can of exterior paint. Another reason oxidizing can occur is when the surface that is painted is reacting chemically from the underside. Two examples: When cement or cement composite surfaces help to discolor a dark paint because of efflorescence. Efflorescence is when salt comes out of cement/concrete surfaces and makes “white marks” or “chalk marks”. The 2nd example is when a galvanized metal is painted without the proper prep. When you have an instance where you have a deep base color that is fading, you have to use the correct primer (if its an instance of a concrete composite surface) and use a top coat that resists fading. There are a few top coats that do much better against fading in deep base color, and there are primers that are made to block and adhere to cement or properly prepared galvanized surfaces. If you use the correct products and process the results should be excellent. The pictures are of a job where we painted a deep red on the entry doors of some condos in St. Paul, MN. The previous paint was fading, discolored and mis-matched. We prepped correctly and used the correct top coat to resist fading.

To achieve the darkest stain color on Maple you need to do one of the following. 1. Add dye to the stain (use two coats and wipe each coat) or wet rag off the 2nd coat (this should only be done by someone who has done it before and should not be attempted by a first timer or even a paint store employee who has “heard of that” or “seen that once or twice”) or 2. Shade lacquer. Shading lacquer to get a very deep color on maple is normally a 4 coat process (perhaps more) and requires a lot of work. It makes sense to find the correct painting contractor or cabinet finisher to do this work as opposed to trying to talk your painter, handyman, carpenter or novice how to do it for you. It won’t work. On this job in particular I was asked to do finish some doors for a contractor. The previous painter was using an oil based stain but did not have a dye compatible stain. We were hired to finish the job and are using a dye stain and 3 clean coats (one of the clear coats will be shaded a tad) Cabinet staining in Stillwater, MN

Paint is largely and esthetic product that requires maintenance. Of course certain products and application methods are superior to others, but certain areas or items don’t need the same level of prep/attention (although every item always needs the correct prep/attention). An obvious example is an concrete floor vs a drywall ceiling. For the concrete floor to receive a coating and perform it needs extensive prep and 4 coats of a 100 percent solids, 2 part epoxy. For the drywall ceiling to perform it needs one coat of primer and one coat of flat paint. The drywall ceiling should last for 50 years (depending on the conditions) after that process. Even though the concrete floor receives far more prep, a more durable coating, more coats and is cleaned/washed more often, the drywall ceiling will likely last longer. The answer to this is obvious… the floor gets far more wear. To the point WEAR is an important thing to consider when considering your painting contractor. If you are putting any amount of money into your woodwork, walls, cabinets or you have an active family, or you put a lot of use into your kitchen, or you have grandkids that visit. It is worth it to talk to a professional, explain what you are trying to achieve and explain the amount of WEAR your particular project is going to receive. A professional will take it from there. Here is a Kitchen in White Bear Lake we did with the following process: 1 coat of oil based high build primer on the cabinets after sanding. 2 top coats of Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo Oil Finish. We thin down one coat and use a flow additive in one of the coats to achieve a better finish. We also painted the walls with Sherwin Williams Duration which is a durable, washable paint. Finally we used a Sherwin Williams BAC wiping stain, 1 coat of sealer and 2 top coats of varnish on the alder cabinets. The results were outstanding. This homeowner uses her kitchen a lot (cooking a minimum of 2 meals a day) and has 3 kids (often times running through the kitchen, using the sink, opening the fridge. She need a durable, professionally enameled kitchen.

Brushing enamel can turn out great. In high traffic areas there is no substitute for a gloss, oil finish. There are no products on the market that are water based that are as durable as the oil finish. It is also easier to brush than the water based products because they stay open longer (dry slower). Generally speaking, the longer a product stays open, the fewer brush marks you will see. To achieve a professional finish there are a few additives that we use to reduce brush marks. It is also a requirement that the applicator have experience. We did this Trolley care in downtown Minneapolis for The Old Spaghetti Factory. Hundreds of people go there daily to eat their delicious food and bang into, sit on, accidentally kick and spill on the booths in this trolley car. I received a durable finish with a professional look.